DCC: Chris Ash is a strong possibility (not an endorsement by OP)
I'm not endorsing this move, but Sam Webb brought up Chris Ash on the roundtable yesterday as a possibility to replace Don Brown. I thought this was pure speculation by him. I never imagined there could be real legs to this. But a friend sent me a text this morning saying that he's at the top of the list.
I am normally one who can find a way to rationalize just about anything as a positive, no matter how insane, but I may need help with this one.
Lord, have mercy.
January 8th, 2021 at 7:36 AM ^
Are you sure that he is a STRONG possibility???
January 8th, 2021 at 7:38 AM ^
I have a STRONG suspicion that he is not.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:03 AM ^
Can we all get over the "homerun" hire. There isn't one. We don't know how affective any of these candidates will be, until they get here and start doing the job.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:15 AM ^
The home run hire is hiring a whole new staff...(except for Warriner)
January 8th, 2021 at 8:07 AM ^
A have a very STRONG feeling Charlie is going elsewhere and is no longer a CANDIDATE.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:27 AM ^
Shocking. You were wrong. AGAIN. Water is wet. Sky is blue. I only parrot what Chris Balas tells me to.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:36 AM ^
Sigh. What's the point of this? Why are there this continent of mgobloggers who simply must prove the guy isn't an insider? Who the F cares? It reminds me of a similar group who always had to point out that The Knowledge couldn't actually predict the future
January 8th, 2021 at 8:51 AM ^
I’m sorry but The Knowledge was never wrong and soared above all doubters.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:52 AM ^
In this case, isn't umbig11 the guy who was accused of sharing/plagiarizing confidential information from private Facebook groups? I can see why that might ruffle feathers.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:56 AM ^
LOL, I don't have FACEBOOK.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
I thought that was later clarified to be wrong. Not sure though. Wasn't he hired to be a source here too at one time?
On a side note, it is funny that someone (see above) would reference him being wrong and saying the person is just quoting Balas and then inferring indirectly that Balas being wrong does not equate to him not being an insider.
January 8th, 2021 at 9:41 AM ^
Because basic human psychology. We live in an age when misinformation outweighs real information 10-1. Intellectualism is a valuable sociable commodity. People's self worth is rooted in their ability to be smarter than the next anonymous guy or girl on the message board, social media thread, etc. It's pretty straightforward.
January 8th, 2021 at 6:37 PM ^
I’ve always liked you
January 8th, 2021 at 11:41 AM ^
Wow, there is a whole 'continent of mgobloggers'
I knew there were a lot but I didn't know they had an entire continent to themselves.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:49 AM ^
LOL, you are pretty much an idiot then. I support Borton and Balas all the time. Thanks for subscribing looney tunes.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:55 AM ^
Reading must be hard for you little fella. Strong candidate does not mean strong is hired.
January 8th, 2021 at 9:26 AM ^
It does feel like progress that you’re posting your insults from your main account instead of your Chernobyl burner account these days. Kudos.
January 8th, 2021 at 9:46 AM ^
umbig11 - There are some on this board that grab their torches and pitchforks to prove you're not something you've never claimed to be. There are others, like me, who appreciate the info. As many insiders have said, nobody knows what is going and although frustrating as a fan, it is what it is. Like you said before, the process is fluid, just like any business decision made outside of the sports world. Don't let the torches and pitchforks take away from the ones that appreciate the info. Happy Friday!
January 8th, 2021 at 9:27 AM ^
Yet he knows he was wrong according to your interpretation. So somehow you believe that he knows he was wrong but don't believe that he knows when he's right.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:37 AM ^
What about Brad lambert or Nate woody? I have feeling he’s going to settle with lance Anderson.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
I honestly have no idea how to read this and am not sure if I should feel stupid or laugh *shrugs*
January 8th, 2021 at 8:28 AM ^
I have a STRONG suspicion that our next DC will be a coach and know defensive stuff.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:38 AM ^
Why the pessimism about Ash? He was an excellent DC at OSU and again this past year at Texas.
4-2-5 quarters is his specialty and Webb seems to think that is what JH wants.
https://thedailytexan.com/chris-ash-texas-football-defense-co-coordinator-tom-herman-quarters-defense
January 8th, 2021 at 9:10 AM ^
Exactly. Hot coordinators fail to make the jump up to head coach all the time, but they don't suddenly lose their ability to coach their side of the ball. He's not under consideration for the head coach job.
January 8th, 2021 at 9:12 AM ^
I'm sold.
January 8th, 2021 at 7:39 AM ^
But do we have a head coach yet? /s ....but only a little bit.
January 8th, 2021 at 7:42 AM ^
Must've been impressed by the 78 points he gave up in 2016
January 8th, 2021 at 8:19 AM ^
Boom roasted!
January 8th, 2021 at 7:44 AM ^
Zach Smith must be in jail then, otherwise he'd probably be hired as offensive coordinator
January 8th, 2021 at 8:21 AM ^
Truth be told his podcast is actually entertaining.
January 8th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
Woof, really? Or is this satire? If not satire this raises so, so many questions... How does he have a podcast? What does he talk about? What has transpired in your life that has led to the moment you thought, "oh, I wonder if there any are great wifebeater podcasts out there to catch up on"? That last question probably sounds like a personal attack, but I'm honestly curious why TF anyone would voluntarily listen to that podcast.
January 8th, 2021 at 7:47 AM ^
I don't know the details of Ash as a DC, but being a coordinator and a head coach is very different. People keep saying stuff like they don't want Ash or Mason or Muschamp because they failed as HCs and that's a terrible way to judge them as DCs. If you want to look at a disconnect between a guy's background and how his teams do when he's in charge, just look at Harbaugh. The defense has carried this program for most of his tenure. Then the bottom fell out when the defense finally failed. But we see stuff like that all the time when guys move up to the top job.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:30 AM ^
Ash was OSU's DC for a few years under Meyer. He was good enough at his job to get a HC position out of it, even if it was Rutger.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:36 AM ^
This. And now it appears as though the next DC is going to be chosen by employing a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey strategy...which actually may be better than all previous methods. What a friggin shit-show we have here. Excuse and enable to our hearts content; there is no acceptable explanation for what is happening here.
January 8th, 2021 at 9:23 AM ^
Do you really believe that because you don't know what is going on, that nothing is actually going on?
January 8th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
No. But I do know that previous performance is very predictive of future performance. I am all ears regarding the reasons I should be optimistic about Michigan football hires over the past 15 years. Here, I believe my position of pessimism is more than well supported-actually fair and reasonable.
Let's talk basketball!
January 8th, 2021 at 11:33 AM ^
You guys do this crap all the time, and are shown to be very, very wrong all the time. Yet this shit continues. Nobody learns.
January 8th, 2021 at 7:49 AM ^
But a friend sent me a text this morning saying that he's at the top of the list.
Well my mom texted me and says Brown is actually coming back. Sorry man, but c'mon...your friend texted you? Unless you tell us who your friend is this is silly. Yes, it was said on the roundtable. But, that hardly means he's a legitimate candidate.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:28 AM ^
This feels really disingenuous. Many of us have contacts, relationships or acquaintances with the university and or departments/groups within the university. The university is like any other enterprise. There is internal murmuring and conversations but with the game of telephone they can get morphed. I have one contact directly connected to the athletic office. I get information from that person as much as I like. I would never mention the person's name or their role as it would compromise their identity and might mine (I love the anonymity of this site for me). I have shared some of that after getting a green light to do so but rarely request to because of the nature of the volatility of the source's proximity to the "truth". I know things shared have been 100% right all of the way to 0% right. It is the nature of the human existence, shit happens and things change.
To be a dick because you don't have enough information and cannot independently verify it is unnecessarily dickish.
January 8th, 2021 at 6:47 PM ^
Take it with a grain of salt, it's just sarcasm from a fellow board member. It would be one thing if you were known on the board, like umbig11, who has repeatedly given inside information that turned out to have merit. Maybe that is also you and I'm not aware. But, I haven't noticed. Without a track record, it's hard to take too seriously in the manner in which you delivered it.
January 8th, 2021 at 7:49 AM ^
Trying to see the positive here. Ash was a great DC at Ohio State and would bring a piece of that winning culture. His defense was dominant in 2014 en route to a national championship. Great defense in 2015 also.
Had some good games as DC at Texas. Also got shredded by Oklahoma.
I don't put stock into how he did as HC at Rutgers. He's being asked to be DC, not HC.
All around I'd be disappointed if the hire is Ash, meanwhile letting Derek Mason slip away and not pursuing Charlie Strong or Will Muschamp. But that doesn't mean it is a terrible hire.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:01 AM ^
Does he have any reputation of being a good recruiter? I feel like I never heard his name when he was at OSU in regards to recruiting
Also every picture of him looks like he just witnessed a puppy fall down a flight of stairs. So there's another knock against him
January 8th, 2021 at 8:02 AM ^
He did a great recruiting job for us when he brought a bunch of New Jersey recruits to that 2016 game.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:12 AM ^
i know, but...okay, i know he got blowed out real good, but i can see it. marquee opponent, night game. how else are ya gonna recruit at rutgers? what would you have him do, as head coach, pretend the biggest game on the schedule isn't happening? i'm not trolling here, either. i'd have done the same thing.
please note - this is NOT a "let's hire chris ash" take. i truly don't have a preference for a single name out that gets pulled out of anyone's MGoButt.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:20 AM ^
Yeah I don't really blame him for that. But he did a piss poor job keeping in-state talent when he was at Rutgers. I think he's probably not a great recruiter and I don't think he's some schematic genius.
Surround him with great recruiters, get him great talent and he could probably make it work. But this wouldn't be a very inspiring hire.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:38 AM ^
agree completely, and well said.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:01 AM ^
Can he recruit? That's all I care about. That and putting together a monster staff underneath him. I just want all this shit resolved.
January 8th, 2021 at 8:11 AM ^
Care to expand on why you think they aren't pursuing Charlie Strong?
January 8th, 2021 at 11:17 AM ^
No insight. Saying that if Ash is the DC rather than Strong or Muschamp, I'd be disappointed. Also disappointed this has taken as long as it has because Mason who is also a better pick is off the board.